Tea growers in Assam are worried at the escalation of violence in the State. The disturbance, if persists, will hit the evacuation of tea outside the State. Fortunately, tea movement has not been hit so far. But growers are keeping their fingers crossed.

Mr M.G.V.K. Bhanu, Chairman of Tea Board, said that so far the disturbance has not had much impact on the tea movement. “I have talked to the tea industry people but they have assured me that there has not been any impact on the movement so far,” he said. But he felt that an early end to the crisis was necessary as its continuation would hit not only the tea industry but the entire economy of the region.

Mr C.S. Bedi, Chairman of Indian Tea Association, said there had not been much problem so far due to several reasons. Road transporters are cautious, avoiding disturbed areas and waiting in safe places in transit for the normalcy to return. Also, in many cases the police escorts were being given to trucks. Several tea companies are holding on to stocks instead of risking evacuation by road. But warehouses in Guwahati are getting full as normal evacuation has slowed down, he said.

Inquiries with the Amingaon (Guwahati) inland container depot (ICD) suggest that the last rake carrying tea containers had left two days before the outbreak of the disturbance and the next inward rake was due on Saturday/Sunday.

There is not much stock either – about 30 stuffed boxes or so – at the ICD. One reason for this is that the tea shipment is yet to start in a full swing. Besides, there has been a drop in crop this year due to unfavourable weather. A third reason is that the exporters do not always wait for the full rake to form. Since Concor is also running, domestic rakes on the route, many exporters would often prefer to send the boxes by the domestic rake instead of waiting for the dedicated export rake.

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